How a Secret BJP War Room Mobilized Female Voters to Win the Indian Elections

Nilesh Christopher & Varsha Bansal

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In April, an unassuming old building in New Delhi’s furniture market housed roughly 30 youngsters. Some were hunched over their laptops crunching data on Excel or analyzing a heat map, while others huddled to discuss strategy. These were engineering graduates, economists, political scientists, and others. There were office chairs, desks, and a couple of white boards.

The entire setup could easily have passed as a startup office, but it wasn’t. This was an election war room.

From there, Sapiens Research founder Rimjhim Gour’s team served as the brains of Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP. The party’s senior leadership had entrusted Gour with mobilizing 12.5 million female voters across India, and her team spent their days crunching historical polling trends, using data to pinpoint critical constituencies, browsing WhatsApp for real-time on-ground updates, and shaping electoral strategies to usher in BJP for a third consecutive term.

India Moves in on Southeast Asia

Victoria Herczegh

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Last week, the foreign ministers of India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in Vientiane to discuss ways to enhance political, security and economic relations and to address regional issues, including China’s assertiveness and the crisis in Myanmar. In his address, India’s top diplomat said ASEAN was the cornerstone of India’s vision for an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.

It was, to some extent, in keeping with precedent. India-ASEAN relations have been on sound footing since 1995. But things started to change during China’s economic explosion in the early 2010s. Its unprecedented growth was attractive to ASEAN’s ambitious developing members (Indonesia and Thailand), while poorer countries (Cambodia and Myanmar) saw trade with the rising superpower as a remedy to their economic and financial problems. Though it was easier to do business with China than with India, where efficient economic reforms were introduced much later, Beijing also began working against India by entering into small regional networks and partnerships, integrating itself into as many economic schemes as it could. China outmatched India to become the top trade and security partner for ASEAN – a position that seemed secure and fruitful for both sides.

The Taliban’s Political Theory: ‘Abd al-Hakim al-Haqqani’s Vision for the Islamic Emirate

Cole Bunzel

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Since the Taliban’s August 2021 return to power in Afghanistan, amid the collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government, questions have swirled around the kind of state that the group is building in the second iteration of its Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Is it the kind of state that will inevitably pose a threat to its neighbors and the international community, or is it one that will join the community of nations and be domesticated by the international system? Is it the kind of state that will reinstate a severe form of sharia, as it did in the past, persecuting women and meting our barbaric punishments, or is it one that will respect the rights of women and modern norms against cruel and unusual punishment? Perhaps most important of all, as far as the United States is concerned, is the question of international terrorism. Will it harbor terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda, as was the case before, or will it adhere to its commitments under the Doha agreement of February 2020 not to allow those groups to use Afghanistan as a base from which to threaten the security of the United States and its allies?1

When it comes to understanding the nature of the renascent Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, perhaps the most relevant source—and one that has largely been overlooked—is the Arabic book on political theory by the Taliban’s top religious scholar, ‘Abd al-Hakim al-Haqqani. Published in April 2022 by the Kandahar-based publishing house Dar al-‘Ulum al-Shar‘iyya, the book is titled al-Imara al-Islamiyya wa-nizamuha, which can be translated as “The Islamic Emirate and Its System.” Announced on Twitter (now X) on April 23, 2022, the book, totaling some 300 pages in length, takes the form of an extended scholarly rumination on the nature and form of a proper Islamic state.2 Some of the discussion is on an abstract or theoretical level, while some relates directly to policy issues facing the Taliban, such as the question of women’s education. 

US, Japan, South Korea sign pact amid ‘deteriorating’ regional security

PATRICK TUCKER

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A first-ever gathering of defense chiefs from Japan, South Korea, and the United States here produced a trilateral security agreement, “grave concern” over increasing Russian-North Korean cooperation, and vague opposition to “unilateral attempts to change the status quo”—a reference to China and Taiwan.

Separately, the United States and Japan announced a new effort to co-develop and produce missiles and counterstrike capabilities.

“The defense ministers from our three countries have never met in the same room in either of your countries, but that changes today,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his counterparts as the meeting began here on Monday morning.

In a joint statement, the three countries said the new Trilateral Security Cooperation Framework would include “senior-level policy consultations, information sharing, trilateral exercises, and defense exchange cooperation, to contribute to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, in the Indo-Pacific region, and beyond.”

National Defense Commission: Pentagon has ‘insufficient’ forces ‘inadequate’ to face China, Russia

Lee Ferran

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The Pentagon’s current National Defense Strategy is out of date, America’s military is inappropriately structured and the US industrial base is “grossly inadequate” to confront the dual threats of Russia and China, according to a new, high-powered formal review.

“The U.S. public are largely unaware of the dangers the United States faces or the costs (financial and otherwise) required to adequately prepare” for a global conflict, reads an early page from the final report of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy, published today. “A bipartisan ‘call to arms’ is urgently needed so that the United States can make the major changes and significant investments now rather than wait for the next Pearl Harbor or 9/11. The support and resolve of the American public are indispensable.”

The Commission was created by the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act to review that year’s NDS. Chaired by former Rep. Jane Harman, a previous ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, the bipartisan committee’s report will likely be wielded — perhaps literally, as former Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Jim Inhofe regularly held up the 2018 version of the commission’s report at hearings — by supporters on the Hill who seek increased defense spending.

Why the China model is failing

Chris Lee

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The authoritarian China model under President Xi Jinping’s leadership is facing increasing failure. Its most critical flaw lies in the unconstrained power of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), arbitrarily intervening in market and social activities for the interest of itself or its leaders without robust mechanisms for accountability and self-correction.

The China model is thought to have contributed to the country’s ‘economic miracle’ in more than four decades to the early 2010s. From 1978 to 2012, the Chinese economy grew at an average annual rate of 9.4 percent, rising from low-income status to become the world’s second largest. For many developing countries, this growth symbolises the success of the CCP’s authoritarianism, which they seek to emulate.

The China model, in effect, is an institutional system that combines extensive state control and ownership of resources with limited free-market activity, all led by the authoritarian CCP. A main characteristic is the CCP’s ability to mobilise organisational resources efficiently and take the actions needed to reach a specific single goal. As Xi said at a 2022 CCP Central Committee meeting, it is about ‘leveraging the notable strength of China’s socialist system in pooling resources and efforts for major undertakings’.

B-52 Traverses Middle East as US Troops in Iraq and Syria Are Attacked

Chris Gordon

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A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flew from Europe across the Middle East on July 25, making a 32-hour flight as U.S. troops came under attack in Iraq and Syria on July 25 and July 26, U.S. officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The bomber took off from Romania, where it was deployed on a brief Bomber Task Force mission, traveled east over the Mediterranean Sea, then crossed into the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of operations. Flying over Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, it reached the Persian Gulf, then turned back, headed for the Atlantic Ocean, according to open-source flight tracking data reviewed by Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The aircraft, tail 60-0054, then returned home to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on July 26.

The B-52 mission showcased ”extensive options … for fielding combat-ready forces to protect and defend the region from adversary aggression,” Air Forces Central (AFCENT) said in a July 27 press release. The mission was focused on practicing maritime firepower support, AFCENT said.

A More Normal Iran? How Masoud Pezeshkian Could Deliver Change

Vali Nasr and Narges Bajoghli

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In 2021, Iran’s hard-line elites were triumphant. Their chosen candidate, Ebrahim Raisi, had won the country’s carefully staged election with more than 70 percent of the vote. Conservatives were in control of the Iranian parliament, and they had the full attention of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Their goal—controlling all the country’s levers of power in order to make Islamist revolutionary fervor its perpetual mainstay—was within reach.

But by the end of the following year, it was clear their agenda was in trouble. The economy was in free fall, and the hard-liners were failing at the basic tasks of governance. The domain in which they appeared most effective—enforcing mandatory veiling for women—was making the state deeply unpopular. When a young woman named Mahsa Amini died at the hands of the morality police in September 2022, after being arrested for not wearing her hijab properly, Iran was racked with protests. Iranian women made it clear they were tired of the state’s dress code and legal control over their bodies. Staggering inflation and shrinking economic opportunities further infuriated Iranians, young and old. The hard-liners seemed to have transformed nagging dissent into open revolt. And so in May, after Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash, Khamenei saw a chance to correct course. Unlike in 2021, Khamenei allowed a reformist, the parliamentarian Masoud Pezeshkian, to run for president. Khamenei knew that if reformists were excluded, voter turnout would be anemic, leading to another spate of unified hard-line control that would erode the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic. Pezeshkian then managed to secure a comfortable, if not overwhelming, victory.

Israel Weighs Response to Deadly Hezbollah Strike

Amy Mackinnon

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised a “harsh” response to a Saturday rocket attack on a soccer pitch in Majdal Shams, a town in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, that killed 12 children.

Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh Killed in Iran as Gaza War Tensions Spiral

Tom O'Connor

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Hamas' top political leader has been killed in an attack in the Iranian capital of Tehran, according to the Palestinian movement and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The IRGC's press office reported that Hamas Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh was slain alongside his bodyguard at his residence early Wednesday, local time, after attending the swearing-in ceremony of newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday. The IRGC said that the cause and circumstances of the incident remain under investigation.

The news was later confirmed by Hamas' press office, which reported that Haniyeh "was killed in a treacherous Zionist raid" at his residence in Tehran. Hamas Political Bureau member Moussa Abu Marzouq was cited by various media outlets as calling the killing "a cowardly act" that "will not go unanswered."

Two Assassinations in Two Capital Cities: Insights and Implications for the Future

Orna Mizrahi

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The surprising assassination of Fuad Shukr (Hajj Mohsin), Nasrallah’s right-hand man, after the disaster in Majdal Shams, is a very hard and painful blow to Hezbollah. It once again proves Israel’s intelligence and operational capabilities, as they attacked in a targeted manner in the heart of the Dahiyeh neighborhood, Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut. This assassination is significant not only because of Shukr’s status and importance within the organization, serving as a sort of chief of staff at Nasrallah’s side, but also due to his direct responsibility as the head of Hezbollah’s strategic array for attacks on Israel’s northern communities since October 8, and specifically for the killing of the 12 Druze children in Majdal Shams.

A few hours later, the assassination of a senior Hamas official, Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Political Bureau, during his visit to Tehran (for which Israel has not taken responsibility), further strengthens Israel’s sense of capability and courage, but also contributes to the confusion and embarrassment among the leaders of the “axis of resistance,” led by Nasrallah and the Iranians, who are now required to react against Israel.

Israeli Deterrence and the October 7 Attack

Amir Lupovici

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Introduction

The brutal Hamas attack on October 7 brought up a variety of strategic issues, including questions about the strategy of deterrence and Israel’s reliance on it. Among other things, much has been written in the past few decades on the question of whether it is possible to deter terrorist organizations. While the initial literature on this topic that developed in the 1990s cast doubt on the possibility of deterring these organizations (for example Bowen, 2004, p.55; Davis & Jenkins, 2002), over the years, researchers pointed to a variety of factors and ways of increasing the effectiveness of the deterrent threat toward them (for example Almog, 2004; Gearson, 2012; Trager & Zagorcheva, 2005). From this perspective, Hamas’s large-scale attack on Israel raises several research challenges. Ostensibly, deterrence was supposed to have restrained the organization’s activity, given that as a nationalist terrorist organization it aspires to attain international legitimacy. Unlike other terrorist organizations, Hamas is also a territorial organization that rules over a specific population, and is thus presumably more sensitive to deterrent threats, compared to organizations that do not have these characteristics and thus lack significant assets that can be threatened.

The Disruption of Global and National Supply Chains—Aspects and Insights

Yigal Maor & Yuval Eylon

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Introduction: Global and National Maritime Trade, Scope and Potential for Disruption

About 85% of global trade (by weight) is currently transported by sea, some 14% by land, and less than 1% by air. The weight of the sea freight is about 12 billion tons, in which 4.7 billion tons consist of energy in various forms, including coal for steel manufacture; 4.4 billion tons are mainly iron ores, other bulk cargoes, and chemicals; about 2 billion tons are goods in containers, and about 0.9 billion tons are general cargoes (Clarksons, 2023).

Israel’s foreign trade in 2022 (in terms of weight and volume) totaled about 84 million tons, of which 83.5 tons consisted of goods transported by sea (99.6% of Israel’s total foreign trade, in a variety specified below).[1] Regarding maritime trade, Israel is entirely dependent on the import of raw materials, most consumer goods, and, to a large extent, its energy cargoes (such as coal, crude and refined oil, and refined petroleum gas). The discovery and production of natural gas in Israel and the beginning of its use to generate electricity and for industry have significantly reduced dependence on energy imports. Most of the supply chains on which Israel relies for its imports are long from a geographical perspective and based on maritime transportation, as a result of Israel’s complicated relations with its neighbors and the almost insurmountable problems of operating with them via land bridges, except for relatively small quantities of cargoes in transit, largely through the Jordan River terminal.[2] Therefore, it is important to understand that Israel’s existence as an “island state”—(particularly in economic terms) due to its geopolitical situation and geographical location—depends on foreign trade, largely by sea.

The Lost “Iron Wall”: Rethinking an Obsolete National Security Concept

Uri Bar-Joseph

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Introduction

The term “national security,” which emerged after World War II, refers to the protective measures that a state takes to defend its core values, also known as national interests. These include the state’s sovereignty, its territorial integrity, and the security of its citizens. The national security doctrine forms the most comprehensive and intellectual foundation for all issues related to national security, first and foremost, defining the values that must be defended, the nature of threats, and the methods of achieving defense. The national security concept is the dominant framework guiding policy decisions.

Unlike the United States and other countries, Israel does not have a written national security doctrine; instead, it has an oral doctrine, known as the “national security concept.” However, some view the document written by David Ben-Gurion in October 1953 as a formal security concept based on Jabotinsky’s “iron wall” idea from the 1920s (Ben-Israel, 2013). In practice, Ben-Gurion’s document was more of a strategic situation assessment, focusing on questions related to the force buildup of the Israel Defense Forces (Bar-On, 2017, p. 297; Bar-Zohar, 1978, p. 955; Segev, 2018, p. 486). The only significant attempt to address this gap was the establishment of the Meridor Committee, in response to a mandate from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz. Although the committee submitted its conclusions and recommendations in 2006, and they were adopted by the minister of defense, they were not formally approved by the Ministerial Committee on National Security.

The Israeli Media Enlisted for War: Interim Conclusions From the Behavior of the Israeli Media and Press in the Aftermath of October 7, 2023

Attila Somfalvi, David Siman-Tov & Ofir Dayan

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Introduction

The morning of Saturday, October 7, 2023, witnessed a massive shift in the tectonic plates in Israel. Not only was the Israeli defense establishment overwhelmed by a terrifying tsunami, and not only was the public sphere trampled under the weight of a massive failure that turned into a horrific tragedy, but the independent Israeli media was also overrun by an unprecedented wave of conformism unseen in the past 15 or 20 years. Many Israeli media outlets became part of the ongoing influence campaign that the State was waging through its various branches. To be clear: this was not a case of journalists being recruited by the Israeli establishment; it was a case of voluntarily serving as part of the psychological, social and public-opinion campaign that was launched within Israel the moment the war broke out. In other words, journalists did not become employees of the state, although their behavior and actions aligned perfectly with the national interest as it was perceived in the first weeks of the war.

In this article, we will examine the argument that the war in Gaza has had a significant and profound influence on the way Israeli media outlets have conducted themselves and continue to conduct themselves. Due to the enormity of the trauma caused by the events of that “Black Saturday,” members of the media and journalists chose to become “agents of unity,” whose goal was to unify the Israeli people, maintain national morale, and provide full support for the operations of the IDF and other branches of the Israeli security establishment as they sought to topple or eliminate the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip and ensure the return of the hostages.

Commission on the National Defense Strategy

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An "All Elements of National Power" Approach to Defense

The United States confronts the most serious and the most challenging threats since the end of World War II. The United States could in short order be drawn into a war across multiple theaters with peer and near-peer adversaries, and it could lose. The current National Defense Strategy (NDS), written in 2022, does not account for ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East and the possibility of a larger war in Asia. Continuing with the current strategy, bureaucratic approach, and level of resources will weaken the United States’ relative position against the gathering, and partnering, threats it faces. In its report, the Commission on the National Defense Strategy recommends a sharp break with the way the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) does business and embraces an “all elements of national power” approach to national security. It recommends spending smarter and spending more across the national security agencies of government.

The United States was slow to recognize the threat of terrorism before 2001 and late to understand the rising strength of China and the renewed menace posed by Russia. According to the Commission, the time to make urgent and major change is now. That change will mean fundamental alterations to the way DoD operates, the strategic focus of other government agencies, and the functionality of Congress, as well as closer U.S. engagement with allies and mobilization of the public and private sectors. The Commission presents its unanimous conclusions and recommendations on how to accomplish these changes in its report.

Hypersonic Weapon Just Tested In Florida, Results Unclear

Joseph Trevithick & Howard Altman

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The U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy recently “initiated” a test of a hypersonic weapon, but the U.S. military won’t say whether or not it was a success, what specific system was involved, or even if there was an actual launch. Previous testing of an Army ground-based hypersonic weapon system it is developing in cooperation with the Navy, known as Dark Eagle, has been particularly beset by problems.

The Army has been hoping to begin fielding Dark Eagle within the next two months, around a year later than originally planned, and in the wake three scrubbed test launches last year. In June, the Pentagon did announced a successful test of a common hypersonic missile designed to be used in both the Army’s Dark Eagle and the Navy’s sea-based Intermediate Range Conventional Prompt Strike (IRCPS) weapon systems. To date, there has been no known full end-to-end test of the missile involving a production-representative launch system.

“The U.S. Army and Navy recently initiated a test of a conventional hypersonic system at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida,” a U.S. defense official told The War Zone in a statement. “This test was an essential benchmark in the development of operational hypersonic technology. Vital data on the performance of the hardware and software was collected that will inform the continued progress toward fielding hypersonic weapons.”

FIA 2024: Bell unveils FLRAA progress with potential for global impact

Harry McNeil

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The FLRAA programme’s timeline has already seen Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky and its partner Boeing filing a formal protest against the US Army’s decision to award the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) contract to Bell Textron’s V-280 Valor.

However, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied the protest in April 2023. The FLRAA programme, aiming to replace the ageing UH-60 Black Hawk by 2030, chose the V-280 Valor over Sikorsky’s SB>1 Defiant X, securing a contract valued at approximately $7.1bn.

Collaboration at the forefront

Bell’s collaboration with the US Army has been vital in the FLRAA programme’s development. Lazzara emphasised the integration of efforts, stating, “The collaboration started long before we were on this contract back during the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator phase. It was essential to showcase our capabilities as a reliable partner for a future programme.

U.S. Navy, Irish Sisters Christen USS Patrick Gallagher

David Sharp

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With an Irish flag overhead and bagpipes playing, three sisters of an Irish-born recipient of the Navy Cross christened a warship bearing his name on Saturday — and secured a promise that the ship will visit Ireland.

The future USS Patrick Gallagher is a guided missile destroyer that is under construction at Bath Iron Works and bears the name of the Irish citizen and U.S. Marine who fell on a grenade to save his comrades in Vietnam. Gallagher survived the grenade attack for which he was lauded for his heroism. But he didn’t survive his tour of duty in Vietnam.

Pauline Gallagher, one of his sisters, told a crowd at the shipyard that the destroyer bearing her brother’s name helps put to rest her mother’s fear that memories of her son would be forgotten.

“Patrick has not been forgotten. He lives forever young in our hearts and minds, and this ship will outlive all of us,” she said, before invoking the ship’s motto, which comes from the family: “Life is for living. Be brave and be bold.”

NATO Is Not Ready for War: Assessing the Military Balance between the Alliance and Russia

Can Kasapoğlu

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Part 1: Assessing the Russian Geopolitical Threat to NATO

The Russian Military Is Prepared for a Long War

Through his invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear that the freedom and security of Europe depend on the West’s ability to deter and defend against Russia. Unfortunately, while Russia is taking enormous losses in Ukraine, it is learning and rapidly reconstituting its military. On the eve of the Washington summit, the Kremlin’s ability to threaten the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with military force is real and pressing.

Russia’s military policy to wear down Ukraine and the West by sustaining a prolonged war depends on a stable wartime economy footing, a resilient defense industry, and three principal warfighting capabilities: artillery, heavy armor, and manpower. Like the Soviet Red Army, Putin’s combat formations rely on mass firepower, large amounts of heavy armor, and massed troop formations with favorable force-to-terrain and force-on-force ratios. In the meantime, drone and missile strikes terrorize Ukrainian population centers.

A Trump Peace Plan for Ukraine

Michael R. Pompeo

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Pundits claim that if Donald Trump is re-elected, he will cut off aid to Ukraine, give away its territory, and deal directly with Vladimir Putin to impose an ignominious “peace” on the country.

There’s no evidence that such capitulation will be part of President Trump’s policy and much evidence to the contrary. It was Mr. Trump who in 2017 lifted the Obama administration’s arms embargo on Ukraine, providing it with the Javelin missiles that helped save Kyiv in the earliest days of Russia’s invasion. More recently, Mr. Trump gave political cover to House Speaker Mike Johnson when he maneuvered to pass additional military aid. Helping Ukraine while revitalizing the American defense industrial base in Alabama, Pennsylvania and Virginia is good policy—and good politics.

The Biden administration’s weakness has left Ukraine where it is today: two years into a full-scale war, with cities destroyed, hundreds of thousands killed, and millions of refugees, and without the means to win. The White House has no strategy for victory, and Americans are rightly concerned.

Tensions between Bibi Netanyahu and Kamala Harris

Walter Russell Mead

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When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris won’t be there. Despite having become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, she decided that an earlier commitment to the Zeta Phi Beta sorority’s convention in Indianapolis mattered more than a speech by the leader of one of America’s closest allies at a time of conflict and crisis in a region involving vital U.S. interests.

Ms. Harris is expected to meet Mr. Netanyahu during his visit to Washington, but the snub is unmistakable. It is fueling rumors of a rift between the Harris and Biden approaches to the Middle East. On March 4, NBC News reported that National Security Council officials “toned down” a draft of remarks Ms. Harris was to give on the humanitarian situation in Gaza. This week the Journal reported that other fissures could appear. Observers will focus on any signs of Biden-Harris tension as the election approaches.

Memo on AI's national-security implications heads for Biden's desk

ALEXANDRA KELLEY

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President Joe Biden is expected to receive a classified memo outlining AI's threats to national security and suggesting limits to its deployment, several sources with knowledge of the memorandum’s contents told Nextgov/FCW.

Ordered up by Biden’s October executive order on AI, the memo is meant to help "develop a coordinated executive-branch approach to managing AI’s security risks," and it is expected to build on last year's guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget and international commitments discussed in recent meetings at Bletchley Park and Italy.

“This [memorandum] is focused on national security systems which exist in military and intelligence agencies, but also some of FBI’s and DHS’s systems also will qualify,” a person familiar with the expected contents of the memo said.

The memo will not directly change AI procurement , but will likely carry “significant implications” for cloud service providers and frontier model developers and their understanding of how to responsibly deploy these technologies.

NIST releases new tool to check AI models’ security

Anirban Ghoshal

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The US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a new open source software package, Dioptra, that allows developers to determine what type of attacks would make an AI model perform less effectively.

“Testing the effects of adversarial attacks on machine learning models is one of the goals of Dioptra, a new software package aimed at helping AI developers and customers determine how well their AI software stands up to a variety of adversarial attacks,” the NIST said in a statement.

The software package, available for free download, can also help developers of AI systems quantify the performance reduction of a model so that they can learn how often and under what circumstances the system would fail, the NIST explained.

The release of Dioptra is linked to President Biden’s executive order passed in 2023 that required the NIST to help with model testing.

Along with the new software package, the NIST has also released several documents promoting AI safety and standards in line with the executive order.

How to Make Technological Innovation Happen at the Pentagon

Arthur Herman

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There’s growing talk about the urgent need for the Pentagon to embrace innovation as it tries to revive its industrial base and reverse our declining defense posture. There’s also talk about the need to spend more on defense, with one senior senator calling for an annual benchmark of 5 percent of GDP.

But it’s no good spending more if you don’t have a clear idea what it’s being spent on. It’s also no good demanding innovation if the entire budget process slams the door on adopting new technologies in a decisive way.

The latest Government Accountability Office report on Department of Defense weapons systems underlines a similar point. It takes too long to develop and deploy major programs because the Pentagon moves at the speed of government, not the speed of relevance to our strategic defense needs.

One reason is that the DoD process for planning and allocating money for programs, the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPBE) process, was designed in the early 1960s. It reflects an earlier industrial era, not the digital age or the world of software and AI — two major sources of innovation today, both in and out of the military.